Comments: Top Ten Food Related Things I Will Miss About Paris

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Paul, thanks for the words of hope - I'll send the Critic out for it when I get a craving next fall. We are actually going to be living in the depths of rural Sussex, though. Great for local cheeses, not so great for imports, I'm guessing!

From a man who thinks French cuisine bland and over-rated, there are still many things I will miss:

1. Putting lashings of gloriously hot mustard on pieces of baguette, while waiting for a brasserie meal.

2. Cheese nan - although Indian food is invariably bland in France (the delicate French palate doesn't do spicy food!), their stuffing of nan bread with a "dairylea" type gooey cheese is simply glorious.

3. Fabulous, yet ridiculously cheap, wine...need I say more. On the other hand, it is very difficult to buy New World wines in France.

4. Bottled water at cheap prices (why does the same water retail many times more expensively in the UK?)

5. Cakes at varies boulangeries. Not only are the cakes on display simply beautiful, they are absolutely delicious.

Meg, congrats to the Critic on landing an awesome job & sending "smooth move" vibes your way! Looking forward to your take on life across the channel.
Top 7 food things I have missed in the year since we left Paris:
#7: Speculoos cookies
#6: flavorful produce
#5: Baguettes "tradi"
#4: Laduree's macarons
#3: Merguez
#2. Ready-to-serve carpaccio from Monoprix
and the #1 thing I miss: PICARD!

You don't have to miss your raclette if you take the raclette grill with you! There are quite a few cheeses that work alright with a raclette grill, e.g. Gruyere, Appenzeller, Morbier, Tilsit. Plus, while a raclette grill's main purpose is of course eating the meal of the same name with it (Raclette!, you can do such a whole lot more with it. I recommend a book by Raclette Australia called the Insider's Guide to Raclette which has plenty of recipies and tips and tricks in it. So, don't worry!